Monday, August 24, 2015

Islamic Barbarians Destroy Palmyra

"Palmyra’s symbolism is powerful, and not lost on IS. At its height the city was the centre of an empire that covered, among other territories, all of modern Syria and Israel and parts of Iraq and Saudi Arabia. It is still one of the most impressive archaeological sites in the Middle East, with a small theatre, temples, monumental gateways, a long colonnaded street, a crossroads monument known as a tetrapylon, and, at the city limits, extensive necropolises with Roman-era tombs. Approaching visitors see a mirage in the distance, the salt pans of the oasis with its feathery palms, and then the luminous ruins slowly taking physical shape out of the plain. They are, an early traveller wrote: “The most glorious structures in the world.”